


Payment

by Tobiyond



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-10 02:11:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12289020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tobiyond/pseuds/Tobiyond
Summary: Junkrat doesn't quite understand how things work around the Overwatch base.





	Payment

Mercy sighed heavily as she slid her chair to place the older Shimada’s file back in her desk. One of these days she would convince him to let her look at his ankles. ‘Flesh and blood’, he said. ‘Definitely just boots’, he said. Angela knew better, but it just wasn’t worth it fighting with him. Maybe she could talk to Genji. He might be able to change his brother’s m-

“Oi Angel!” The sudden shout startled her, sending the files fluttering out of her hands and across the floor. She took a deep breath, calming herself. She would need it to deal with the new visitor.

“Good evening, Mister Fawkes.” She greeted the man standing in her office’s doorway. He was grinning as he hobbled inside, taking her words as an invitation. She was about to speak again when he crouched down and started gathering up the spilled papers. She could honestly say it was… unexpected.

“Sorry if I spooked ya.” His voice was much quieter as he handed them over. Was he being considerate? A frown settled over her features at the thought. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t get wrapped up in the others’ treatment of their new recruits. Yes, the Junkers were loud and intimidating together, but in private she had noticed they were much more subdued, even polite.

Also in desperate need of her help. Her eyes traveled down to the tall man’s elbow, glad to see that he was using the sleeve she’d given him to help with chafing from his prosthetic. The two were riddled with enough physical issues to make a weaker doctor cry, but Mercy took them on as a challenge. She was determined to make these two men healthy again, regardless of preexisting conditions.

“So, uh, question Doc.” Ah yes. She had been staring for a moment, hadn’t she? Her attention turned back to his face, showing that she was listening. “Who do me and Hog got to talk to about gettin’ a spot in the showers here?” He asked, flesh hand rubbing along the back of his neck. Mercy tried not to acknowledge the black stain that came off on his hand and was quickly wiped off on his pants.

“I’m sure Lucio or Jesse would be more than happy to show you where the showers are located.” She answered with a smile. There had already been a complaint about their hygiene and she was so pleased that he was showing an interest in washing up now. Personally, she had dealt with worse from a younger gang member turned cowboy, but she did worry about potential infection. Junkrat didn’t seem too pleased with her comment.

“Yeah, no. I know where they are. I meant who’s the keeper?” Angela tilted her head, confusion clear on her face. He made a disgruntled noise in the back of his throat before continuing. “You know. Who do I talk to about the time limit? Or do ya go by volume here?” He laughed even as she struggled to understand what he was talking about. “Hoo, I sure hope ya don’t. Hog’s a big guy and volume systems they, ah, they don’t agree with us too well.” Oh. OH. Angela sighed to herself and offered the kindest smile she could.

Of course. Clean water was likely a precious commodity where they were from. The concept of so much just free flowing at their leisure must be a hard one to grasp. Suddenly, their supposed lack of hygiene made a lot more sense.

“We don’t have to ration water here, Mister Fawkes. You and your partner are welcome to use what you need.” He frowned at her for a moment. Had she upset him? Perhaps he didn’t like the term partner. His metal fingers tapped thoughtfully on his chin and he nodded at her.

“Riiiight. It’s already taken out of our pay, isn’t it? Gotcha.” She opened her mouth to argue, but he kept going. “So do we have some kinda log in we gotta do before we start so ya can keep track? Key card? Password?” He giggled, a high pitched sound that always put her on edge for some reason. “Footprint scanners when we walk in? Betcha got some fancy stuff like that here.” His eyes finally stayed on her and his mouth curled up into a grin. Waiting. She realized it was her turn to speak and took another deep breath.

“Everyone on base is allowed to monitor their own bath use.” She quickly remembered Hana banging on the door to get Lucio out of the shower and chuckled. “To a point, of course. We prefer that showers are kept to an hour maximum so there will be hot water left for others.” They were both smiling now and she felt much more relaxed. She really didn’t see why everyone was making such a big deal out of the Junkers. They weren’t having any more trouble adjusting than any of the other new recruits, they were just being given less chances to ask questions and get help. It was a shame, now that she thought about it. She’d have to ask Winston about scheduling some team exercises soon.

“Honest system, huh? Alright. We can work with that.” He was nodding and she thought the conversation done. Her chair slid back again and she pulled open the drawer for her now rumpled paperwork. She could reorganize it tomorrow. “What sort of price we got being taken out then?” She sighed and closed the drawer. Apparently they were not done.

“I mean, ya don’t pay too well, so I’m hoping your prices are more like New Sydney. Should be able to get me and Hog a good scrubbing down at that price.” He rubbed a bit of soot off his forehead and tilted his head. “With all these big shining buildings everywhere, I’ve had to double down on me sun block and it’s startin’ to get a little crusty even for me.” Angela made a mental note to introduce the man to actual sun screen when they were done here. “If you’re charging like Junkertown, though, ya might pay us enough to get in and rinse the month’s dirt off at least.” He found this hilarious, busting out into shrill laughter and smacking his metal hand on his leg.

“We don’t charge you for water, Jamison.” She stated, voice now flat. He glanced over at the use of his name, discomfort and confusion fighting for dominance on his expression. “Overwatch handles any bills for water usage. You and Mister Rutledge are free to shower or bathe whenever and however you please.” If his silence was any tell, her blunt tone worked. His eyes scanned over her face, over the room, finally down at himself. There was a panic in them for just a moment, then it calmed down.

“No charge. No limit.” He said, voice steady as if he was making sure he had it right. She nodded. “And no one’s gonna make a big fuss if we use too much?” She thought about this for a moment, noting the ‘we’ in his words.

“If the two of you are showering together and expect to be in for an extended period of time, it is common courtesy to make sure no one else is needing to use the showers before hand.” She straightened her files. “But no. No one will make a fuss about you taking the time you need to get clean.” Just like that, she watched his face light up. His too bright eyes that worried her greatly darted towards the door and his feet were quickly shifting back and forth.

“Okay. Okay yeah. Gotcha. Thanks Angel!” He sounded so sincere that she didn’t bother correcting him on her name. They’d have time for that later. Before she could reply, he was gone. Shaking her head, Mercy went back to filing her paperwork. She pondered for a moment before flipping her fingers through the tab organizers and plucking out a file labeled ‘J. FAWKES’.

\- - - - - - - -

Angela didn’t like to brag, even to herself, but she couldn’t help noticing the two men at dinner that night. The soot and dirt from Jamison’s face was gone, dark spots on his skin all that remained. She made a note to check them during his next physical. His hair laid a bit flatter now that it was clean, but was nothing compared to the volume his partner’s hair apparently had when it was clean and allowed out of a ponytail.

She was so caught up in looking them over that she didn’t notice the larger man catch her stare. At least, she thought he did. It was hard to tell with the mask in the way. He looked from her to his brightly speaking partner and nodded. Mercy couldn’t help but feel like it was the closest she’d get to a thank you from the rubber mask. Just the thought made her smile. She was making progress.

**Author's Note:**

> \- tobiyond.tumblr.com -


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